But in Connecticut at least, the number of sexual harassment cases pales when compared with another form of sexual discrimination. The majority of complaints reaching state authorities still have to do with discrimination against women who are pregnant.

In 1991, the state's Permanent Commission on the Status of Women received 1,098 complaints of sexual discrimination. Of those, 51 were for sexual harassment and 659 were for pregnancy discrimination.

To get a sense of what these complaints were about, I spoke with several women who filed them. All but one, Amelia DeLucia, asked that their real names not be used for fear of retaliation, so I've used pseudonyms. Their stories:

Marian, an engineer with a large Hartfordarea company, left work last year on an approved maternity leave. While she was on leave, she was laid off in a reorganization.

This is illegal, and when she pointed this out, the company just changed the date of the layoff. Eventually the company offered her a job as a temporary worker. It was, she said, her old job.

She has held it ever since. However, she has gotten a lawyer and filed a complaint with the state. She hopes to be fully reinstated shortly.

Colleen lived in an apartment in Hartford. She knew her landlord didn't like children. So when she became pregnant, she told her landlord. He told her she had to move out. She cried and screamed, then resigned herself and went to look for another apartment. She found one she liked that night. The only catch was that she had to move in immediately. She went back to the landlord and asked to be let out of the last monthanda-half of her lease.

No way, said the landlord. She lost the new apartment. A single parent, she had a baby coming and no place to live. "Talk about

stress. Thank God I had a job." She finally found another apartment.

Marissa worked for a Hartford-area furniture outlet as a customer-service representative. When she became pregnant in 1989, she trained a man to do her work while she was on maternity leave. When she came back, he had her job and she was demoted to receptionist. When she complained, she was told she would be offered a job in sales. She was laid off two days later.

"They said I was laid off because there wasn't enough work, but when I was laid off, they were advertising for another salesperson," she said.

Ellen was hired as a highway contruction inspector and said it all hit the fan when she told her bosses she was pregnant. She said she was denied a raise, denied chances for professional advancement and paid straight time for overtime. Eventually she was laid off.

DeLucia of North Haven got a job in a New Havenarea office supply store last May. The owner was pleased with her work, and gave her more responsibility almost immediately, such as opening and closing the store.

In midJune, she told management she was pregnant. In August, she was fired. She said the manager told her her work was good, but that the owner wanted her gone. DeLucia is now unemployed and seven months pregnant. She is unmarried, collecting $112 a week in unemployment compensation and ineligible for welfare.

Each situation these women described -- if found to be true -- is flagrantly illegal. Connecticut has excellent laws against any form of discrimination against women on account of pregnancy. Yet it continues.

Along with being nasty and illegal, it's also counterproductive, said Fredrica Gray, executive director of the Permanent Commission on the Status of Women. She said lost production time, advertising, hiring and training most often cost more than retaining a pregnant woman.

Good companies don't do it. They realize that childbearing isn't a passing fad, that almost half the work force is now female and that as many as 90 percent of working women will have a child during their careers. We've got to get the word to the recalcitrants.

For a pamphlet on Connecticut laws on pregnancy, family leave and medical leave, call the Permanent Commission on the Status of Women, 566-5702